1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a faucet fixture for attachment to sink structure, and more particularly to a faucet fixture having a valve body located within and separable from a housing sleeve for inspection and maintenance of the valve body and related components without disconnection of associated water conduits.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Faucet fixtures of the type to which the present invention is directed are auxiliary faucets adapted for mounting to existing sink structure. They may be a carafe type for association with a single potable water conduit to dispense water into carafes or like containers, or they may be a reverse osmosis or "RO" type of fixture. The latter type of fixture is adapted for association with a potable water conduit connected to an RO system. Such RO systems usually require two additional conduits, namely, a discharge waste water inlet conduit and an outlet conduit for connection to the faucet fixture.
An RO system produces a continuous flow of waste water that is typically discharged into a sewer system. The waste water passes from the RO system, upwardly through the waste water inlet conduit, into the faucet fixture, through an airgap arrangement and then to the outlet conduit. The air gaps is required by most local plumbing code ordinances to be about an inch to prevent back-syphoning of sewage or tainted water into the RO system. Plumbing codes usually also require a so-called "critical level" (C/L) to be established and permanently marked on each airgap type of faucet, with the C/L or height location required to be at least one inch above the faucet mounting base.
Prior art auxiliary faucet fixtures of the carafe or RO type are not easily serviced because they must generally be completely dismantled and separated from the sink structure to do this. Prior art RO airgap type faucet fixtures present additional problems because they require that the three conduits associated with such fixtures be installed through a relatively large opening in the kitchen sink, in the order of 11/4 inches. Sometimes sinks are made with a preformed opening, but the size of the opening is not standard, sometimes being 7/16 inch, 1/2 inch, or 11/4 inches. Obviously, where a faucet opening is not present or not of an adequate size, special drilling is required to make an opening of the proper size in the usual porcelain clad cast iron sink. The net result of these shortcomings of the prior art is that no one faucet fixture is universally capable of being mounted in holes measuring from 7/16 inch to 11/4 inch and above.
Prior art auxiliary fixtures also lack dispensing spouts which are vertically adjustable to suit different installations. Such fixtures also lack any provision for selectively controlling the flow volume of potable water by means of spout orientation.
The inability to easily service prior art RO airgap faucet fixtures is a particular problem because existing airgap arrangements usually include some metal defining the conduit path, rendering them susceptible to clogging by foreign matter such as mineral deposits. As indicated before, there is no easy means of maintaining such faucets without completely disassembling them for repair or replacement.
Prior art faucets requiring relatively large faucet openings include U.S. Pat. No. 3,967,638, issued to Tomdreau; U.S. Pat. No. 4,454,891, issued to Dreibelbis et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,241, issued to Brown. These and other prior art fixtures require disassembly and separation from the sink structure for maintenance. The structure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,419, issued to Richetti, is also of interest in this regard.